Research Topical Files series (14.4 linear feet), covering the period from 1955 to 2004, documents Kamisar's standing in the legal and academic communities throughout the United States. The files were received in two accessions, but in fact represent a single run of files kept over his career.
The Research Files include correspondence with Supreme Court justices, colleagues, judges, students, editors of law reviews, and publishers; articles by Kamisar and others, describing and arguing various cases and topics; Supreme Court and other judicial opinions and legal precedents; news clippings and op-ed pieces commenting on many aspects of legal opinion; and biographical information, including photographs. The original filing order was maintained. In most cases, Kamisar's secretarial staff used acronyms when filing, so the American Bar Association will be found under ABA and the Bureau of National Affairs will be found under BNA, though researchers should also consult the full name of the organization as well. His original folders were maintained, whenever possible, so that any notes Kamisar made on the folders are available for researchers. These include cross references which will aid in locating related material in the Research Topical Files series.
Two principal areas of research interest for Kamisar are patient rights and defendant rights (Exclusionary rule of the Fourth Amendment and the Miranda warning, guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment). This series includes strong coverage of the protection of the rights of criminal defendants. The researcher will find multiple folders under the headings Confessions, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Death Penalty, Drugs, and the Supreme Court. Early in his career, Kamisar became interested in patient rights as they pertain to criminal law, in such areas as assisted suicide, euthanasia, and mercy-killing. There are multiple folders relating to these topics in this series, including Euthanasia (with folders discussing the cases of Baby Jane Doe, Paul Brophy, children, Medical Economics, and Karen Ann Quinlan's guardians) and Suicide (folders on assisted suicide and the Elizabeth Bouvia case). For more material on these subjects, researchers should consult folders in the Speeches Files, and Teaching Files under the heading "Criminal Law." In his Writings Files, researchers will find the 1958 article, published in the University of Minnesota Law Review, entitled "Some Non-Religious Views Against Proposed 'Mercy-Killing' Legislation" and another copy with a forward from 1973.
Photographs of Kamisar can be found under Biography-Miscellaneous (Box 2) and Photographs (Box 12) and Vita (box 14),. There is also a photograph of Baltimore police chief Otto Urban (box 14).
